When Fever Talks, Listen
by Allyson
Summary: Even with a fever, Susan still looks out for Edmund with Peter's help


_**Narnia**_** – When Fever Talks, Listen**.

By Allyson

(A/N - Everything involving _Narnia_ belongs to C.S. Lewis)

The rain gently hissed against the stone walls of Castle Cair Paravel, sending small puffs of steam into the air as it cooled the soaring summer temperature. With a frustrated sigh, Peter turned away from the window and the inviting cool breeze, now unable to see passed the blurred landscape below. _'Where was he?'_

A muffled cough and the sound of a blanket being knocked to the floor pulled Peter from his thoughts and back to his sister's bedside. Susan had caught a flu-bug a couple of days ago and was now suffering from a fever and a mild bout of laryngitis. The court doctor had prescribed fluids and bed rest, saying she would be up and about in at least a week. However, with the weather so hot and humid, Susan was finding it difficult to sleep. Peter retrieved the abandoned blanket and placed it back over Susan, who was finally sleeping fitfully. The blanket lasted five seconds before his sister had flipped the blanket back off her. This time it rested on top of Lucy, who had fallen asleep next to her older sister. Lucy snuggled happily under the blanket and Peter didn't have the heart to wrestle it away from her.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Peter soaked a flannel in a bowl of cold water and gently placed it on Susan's forehead. Susan's fidgeting eased as she leaned into the flannel. Instead she started to murmur in her sleep, her sore throat turning it into a hoarse rasp.

". . . no . . . No . . . NO! . . . Ed, run! . . . Ed!"

Her arm shot out as if to grab at someone, narrowly missing cuffing Peter on the side of the head, before falling limply back onto the bed cover. Once again she'd fallen back to sleep.

Startled by her sudden outburst and ducking away from Susan's wind milling arm, Peter blinked in surprise before replacing the wet flannel he had dropped.

"Su?" he murmured, to make sure she was indeed asleep. Not knowing why Susan's outburst had unsettled him, Peter turned to look back towards the window with a worried frown. "Ed," he growled to his absent younger brother. "What's taking you so long? Don't make me have to bring you home."

Edmund didn't appreciate the absence of pain until the forest floor rose up and slammed into him with a G-force quality. Spitting out leaves and a lip-full of blood, Edmund groaned as he levered himself over onto his back. He barely had a chance to catch his breath before his body froze in fear. A tell-tale growl echoed somewhere behind his left ear. Snapping his eyes wide open, Edmund thought he saw a glimpse of a huge bloodshot yellow eye in his peripheral vision. Fight or flight adrenalin paralyzed Edmund for an eternal moment.

"Ed, run!"

Susan's voice snapped Edmund's legs into momentum. He jumped to his feet and hit the ground running before his subconscious could register that his older sister wasn't with him and couldn't possibly be shouting at him with that tone of voice.

Skidding on a slick gnarled root, Edmund cursed as the rain continued to blur his eyesight. He was constantly aware of the wolf's grinding and snapping teeth clipping at his heels.

Suddenly, Edmund felt a hot searing pain fire up from his left heel, around his swelling ankle and spiking up his calf. Stumbling, Edmund ripped his foot out of the wolf's grip, all the time gasping obscenities at the creature that would have made even Mr Beaver blush. Looking around wildly, Edmund put all his energy into a desperate lunge for a low-lying tree branch. Catching hold of the branch, Edmund swung higher into the tree, brushing his wounded foot once more over the wolf's open jaw.

The wolf howled in anger at being unable to catch its prey before camping out at the tree base. The young king was trapped.

Peter had taken to prowling the entrance-way in front of the open French windows leading from Susan's bedroom to the small balcony beyond. Susan and Lucy still slept an hour after Susan's fever induced sleep-talking. And Edmund still hadn't returned. Peter gnawed on his bottom lip as he tried not to worry about why his younger brother was taking so long in returning back from visiting the Beavers. Edmund had offered to visit the Beavers and let them know that Susan was still too ill to keep her weekly visit with them, while Lucy looked after Susan and Peter held court that morning. A two-hour ride was now stretching into late afternoon.

Leaning his forehead against the doorframe, Peter could almost hear Edmund's voice teasing him about his inability to be patient with him. The sound of the hissing rain did little to relax Peter. He hoped Edmund wasn't out in the rain; dealing with one sick sibling was more than enough for his nerves.

"Peter." Susan's sleep-heavy murmur caused Peter to hurry to back to her bedside.

Patting the hand nearest him in a consoling manner, Peter soothed, "Shh, Susan. Go back to sleep; I'm here."

A frown marred Susan's previous peaceful features as she drowsily shook her head. "Peter? What are you doing here? . . . Should be helping Ed . . . needs someone to catch him . . ."

Peter stared at his sleeping sister in confusion. "Huh?" was all he could say, belatedly remembering to lower his voice when Lucy stirred at the sound of his voice.

After a moment of gathering his scattered thoughts, he rearranged the blankets over both of his sisters before decisively striding towards the door.

"That's it," he told himself, sternly. "I'm going to find Ed."

Slamming his head against the trunk of the tree, Edmund sighed in frustration. After making sure he wasn't about to fall into the open jaws of the wolf below, Edmund cautiously stole a look at his wounded foot. His boot was ruined – the sole flapping forlornly and the leather scratched and torn. Through a gap in the back of his boot, a trickle of blood poured steadily out while the visible skin looked sore and swollen. With difficulty, Edmund ripped a strip of material from the bottom of his shirt and carefully wrapped it around the flapping heel and the wound to staunch the blood flow.

Exhausted, Edmund once again rested his head back against the tree and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He promised himself after a moments rest he'd find a solution to his current problem.

The sun was beginning to set when Edmund drowsily opened his eyes. He'd slept deeper and longer than he had planned to. His head and foot felt heavy and despite the heat, a cold chill shivered down his spine. The absence of noise below his seat in the tree reminded Edmund of his current predicament. Looking towards the ground, he found that his stalking wolf had gone – obviously tired of waiting for Edmund to come down from his hiding place. Suspicious, Edmund scanned the surrounding area in case the wolf was lurking in the shadows of the tall bushes below him. However, all was quiet and still.

Stretching stiff and tired muscles, Edmund carefully swung his injured foot over the branch, noticing that he was no longer bleeding. Judging the distance to the nearest sturdiest-looking branch below him, Edmund levered himself down from his perch, gritting his teeth in pain. Holding onto the tree trunk with one hand, Edmund gracefully dropped down onto the next branch. However, the moment his bad foot came in contact with the branch's surface, his ankle sagged and pain burst up his left side.

Seeing stars before his eyes, Edmund managed to groan, "Brilliant plan, Edmund," before he lost his balance and began to fall to the ground below.

Peter's horse cantered through the forest just slow enough for Peter to keep an eye out for any sign of his brother. It would just be his luck if they passed one another without realizing. Something caught Peter's eye and he reined his horse to a gentle halt. Dismounting, Peter retraced his steps and felt his pulse speed up with apprehension. There lying half-caked in fresh mud was Edmund's sword.

Picking the sword up, Peter studied the mud-stained blade before scanning the area around him. A loud crack of a branch being ripped from a tree nearby startled Peter and he set off running towards the noise. Finding himself in a small clearing, Peter had just enough time to drop Edmund's sword and lunge forwards before a figure fell from the branches of the tree above him.

The force of another body slamming into his own dropped Peter to his knees with a surprised, "Oomph!"

Catching his breath, Peter looked down at the smaller figure cradled in his arms and almost dropped his half-conscious brother in shock.

"Edmund!"

His younger brother turned a dazed look up at his brother. "Peter?"

Susan's words about Edmund needing him eerily swam into Peter's mind as he took in Edmund's scruffy appearance, split lip and torn boot. He gathered his brother into his arms despite Edmund's struggles and indignant protests and staggered to his feet.

"Oh, Edmund," muttered Peter. "What have you got yourself into now?"

He frowned in concern as his brother muttered something about a wolf before resting his head against Peter's shoulder.

As Peter carried the younger boy back to where his horse was waiting, Edmund suddenly jerked his eyes back open. "Is Su okay? Is she here?"

"Su will be fine," reassured Peter, helping his brother to mount the horse without disturbing his injured foot. "She's still on bed at the Cair."

"Are you sure?" asked Edmund, turning to look at Peter as his brother sat behind him and took hold of the reigns. Confusion clouded his brown eyes. "I thought I heard her before . . . maybe not."

"Don't worry, Ed," reassured Peter, though he was confused himself as he remembered Susan's fevered sleep-talking. "Let's just get you home."

He nudged his horse's sides and they rode back to Castle Cair Paravel.

The slow staccato of a wooden cane punctuated by a burst of violent sneezes announced Edmund's presence into the room. With his foot bandaged up and told to take things easy, Edmund had managed to persuade one of his servants to find him an old walking stick so that he wouldn't be confined to his bed. He'd also come down with a cold from sitting in the rain, which hadn't improved his mood.

"Edmund!" Lucy was by his side in an instant with a delighted smile and a hug. "How are you feeling?"

He managed a smile before another sneezing fit threatened to topple them both.

"Ed, you're supposed to be resting in bed," Peter chided him, gently.

"I've done that," replied Edmund, his voice rasping. "I wanted to see how Su was."

"She's fine. Her fever has broken and the doctor said she should be up and about by tomorrow," replied Peter.

Edmund's gaze flickered over his brother's shoulder and a smile crept over his face. "Or maybe sooner?"

Turning, Peter sighed in defeat as he found Susan sleep-walking through the open doorway. She glided serenely into the room, navigating around each piece of furniture as if it was never there. In her hands she clutched a large white bath towel. Her three siblings watched as she approached her youngest brother and wrapped the towel around Edmund's shoulders, carefully tucking the corners under his chin. To Lucy it looked like her sister was trying to tuck him into bed.

"There now, Ed, everything will be alright," murmured Susan. "Peter and I will look after you."

Placing a kiss on his forehead, she patted the towel one last time before wandering back the way she came. To Lucy's amusement, Edmund looked stunned while Peter just shrugged his confusion away.

A curious smile spread over Edmund's face as he slowly reached to pull the towel away from him.

"She hasn't done that since Finchley," he told Lucy, seeing her inquisitive look. "Su would come and tuck me into bed when I was about five. She'd sneak in after Mum had been into say goodnight." His grin got wider and more mischievous as he looked at their older brother. "And then when she'd left, Peter would come in and do the same when he thought I was asleep."

Lucy laughed at the slow blush rising in Peter's cheeks. "Yes, I remember the same happening to me," she agreed, her eyes twinkling. "Except Peter never stopped that habit."

Peter cleared his throat in embarrassment. "I'll just go and check on Susan. Make sure she's not rearranging Mr Tumnus's rose vases again."

He beat a hasty retreat, the sound of his younger sister and brother's infectious laughter trailing behind him, causing him to smile. Life was never dull with his family and Peter wouldn't trade it for the world.

The End.


End file.
